Qinghai: Protecting the beautiful background of China's water tower and surging "green energy" in the sky

What is Qinghai? It is the source of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River, the "Water Tower of China". It has a diverse geographical form consisting of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasses and sand ice. It has the rippling Qinghai Lake. It has the breeding and migration of Tibetan antelopes. It has a clear sky. It has the ancient mountains such as the Kunlun Mountains, the Qilian Mountains and the Bayankala Mountains, which reflect the simple, natural, spectacular and mysterious original ecological scenery.

The rippling blue waves of Qinghai Lake (Photo by Zhang Haidong, a reporter from CCTV.com)

These rich and abundant resource endowments all demonstrate the charm of "Beautiful Qinghai", and have laid a solid foundation for building a "national clean energy industry highland, an international eco-tourism destination, a green and organic agricultural and livestock product export base, and a world-class salt lake industry base."

In the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, Qinghai coordinated epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development. The construction of an ecological civilization highland got off to a good start, the construction of the "four places" was steadily advanced, the economic operation remained in a reasonable range, and the level of people's livelihood security continued to improve.

If people do not betray the mountains, the mountains will not betray people.

On this land of 720,000 square kilometers, how can Qinghai achieve the unity of economic, social and ecological benefits on the basis of building a strong national ecological security barrier? At the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, let us find the answer through the roads that reporters have traveled, and from the people and stories they have met.

Qinghai Green Energy Skyland: "Chasing the Wind", "Chasing the Sun" and "Building Water"

Today, “green energy” is surging in Qinghai.

In the Gobi Desert, the tranquility of Chaka Salt Lake attracts tens of millions of tourists just to see the "mirror of the sky". On its east side, the endless wind turbines are spectacular. Through the rotation of the blades, the electricity continuously lights up thousands of lights.

Wind turbines under the snow-capped mountains (Photo by Zhang Haidong, a reporter from CCTV)

Heading east, we head to Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Desolation was once synonymous with Tara Beach, but now it has transformed into a 10 million kilowatt-level new energy base and is thriving.

Since 2012, taking advantage of the Taratan solar energy resource-rich area, the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has focused on promoting the construction of ecological photovoltaic parks and developing the photovoltaic industry. From then on, a "blue ocean" of clean energy was born here.

Tara Beach "chases the light and the sun", and the "Qinghai Energy" of tens of millions of kilowatts is emitted from here. To date, the park has invested a total of 7.6 billion yuan, and built 17 110 kV booster stations, 10 330 kV collection stations, and 3 750 kV double-circuit substations. At the same time, Qinghai Province's first ultra-high voltage transmission channel, the "Qinghai-Henan ±800 kV DC Transmission Project", was also fully connected in June 2020. The "air corridor" starts from Qinghai to realize the transmission of "green energy".

The "photovoltaic ocean" on Tara Beach (Photo by CCTV reporter Fan Yongtao)

Southeast of Tara Beach is the Longyang Gorge of the Yellow River. The cliffs on both sides are 150 meters high and 30 meters wide. Due to the rich water resources, the state began to build a large hydropower station at the mouth of Longyang Gorge in 1976. 13 years later, all four units of the power station were put into operation, with an average annual power generation of 6 billion kWh.

As one of the regions with the richest clean energy in my country, Qinghai’s goals of “carbon neutrality and carbon peak” will promote high-quality development.

Due to the stability of hydropower, people have explored the world's largest "hydro-photovoltaic complementary" project, the "Taratan 850,000-kilowatt Longyangxia Hydro-Photovoltaic Complementary Photovoltaic Power Generation Project". The project uses the photovoltaic power station and the hydropower station as a whole as "virtual hydropower" for comprehensive operation control, and adjusts the originally unstable photovoltaic power source into a balanced, high-quality, safe and grid-friendly power source through hydropower before sending it to the grid.

Going east, we arrive at the provincial capital Xining. From "photovoltaic power generation" to "photovoltaic manufacturing", Xining is aiming to build a photovoltaic manufacturing center with greater added value. The origin of the "blue ocean" on Tara Beach is in the Xining (national) Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Compared with the roaring machines of traditional industrial enterprises, the State Power Investment Group Yellow River Upper Reaches Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. is a little quiet. In the factory, my country's first mass-produced IBC battery and components are produced in an orderly manner, with an average efficiency of over 24%, and the component power increased from 390 watts to 425 watts.

Across the road is the company's electronic-grade polysilicon production base, which is the only company in China that mass-produces and sells electronic-grade polysilicon in bulk, with an annual production capacity of 3,300 tons. It not only provides a steady supply of raw materials for photovoltaic cells, but also breaks the situation in which China's electronic-grade polysilicon is completely dependent on imports.

Today, a number of well-known domestic and foreign photovoltaic manufacturing companies have settled in Xining (national) Economic and Technological Development Zone, forming a complete photovoltaic industry chain of "polysilicon - monocrystalline silicon - slices - solar cells - photovoltaic modules". "Made in Xining" makes Qinghai's photovoltaic industry shine.

Under the background of "dual carbon", Xining's new energy industry has accelerated its development and created a new pattern of low-carbon green development. On September 8, 2021, Xining's 10,000-ton carbon fiber base was put into production, further enhancing the international competitiveness and influence of domestic carbon fiber, which means that high-performance carbon fiber products at home and abroad may come from "Xining".

Through the glass windows of the production workshop of BYD Xining Power Battery Factory, the positive and negative electrodes and separators are transformed into the "heart" of new energy vehicles - the power battery. The whole process takes only 2 seconds.

Looking at Xining's current lithium battery energy storage industry, it has built a complete lithium battery industry chain from lithium extraction from salt lakes to lithium battery positive and negative electrode materials, lithium battery copper foil and other supporting materials, from energy storage and power batteries to new energy vehicle applications. "Xining-made" lithium battery products have become another shining business card for Qinghai.

"New energy + new materials" have become the two major driving forces. In the past three years, the total amount of self-operated imports and exports in Xining has reached 6.218 billion yuan, accounting for more than 74% of the total import and export value of the province, which has strongly supported the economic development of Qinghai.

In the first 11 months of 2021, Qinghai completed 31.37 billion kWh of renewable energy power generation, a year-on-year increase of nearly 40%, and exported 27.68 billion kWh of electricity. The daily renewable energy power generation and renewable energy power generation output of Qinghai Power Grid set new records for five consecutive times, making it the first province in the country to achieve renewable energy as the primary power generation source.

Pollution-free ultra-clean area plays the "Pastoral Symphony" of the new era

As one of the world's four major pollution-free and ultra-clean areas, good ecology is the advantage of Qinghai's agricultural and animal husbandry development. Only by strictly observing the ecological red line can we lay a solid foundation for the industry.

Looking at Suobuchaye from afar, the sun is shining through the dissipating clouds and the mountains are winding into the depths. This is an ancient glacier site located in Zhiduo County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, standing beside the Enqian River, a tributary of the Yangtze River.

At the foot of the mountain, Cicheng and his wife began their busy day.

Cicheng is the team leader of the herdsmen in the Ecological Animal Husbandry Cooperative in Dasheng Village, Zhiduo County. Together with his wife, he is responsible for the grazing of 247 yaks. The herders affectionately call them "cowherds."

"Last year, I earned 70,000 yuan." Seeing the reporter coming to interview him, Cicheng, who was busy eating, said shyly that the village cooperative has dividends every year, and he also gets a labor fee as a herdsman team leader. At the same time, he is also an ecological ranger of Sanjiangyuan National Park, with an annual salary of more than 20,000 yuan, and his life is very enjoyable. He also said: "Hard work can make you rich."

In order to protect the ecological environment of the source of the Yangtze River, herders once faced many difficulties due to "reducing livestock and changing production". It seemed that the pastures at their feet alone were not enough for them to live a prosperous life, until the emergence of the ecological animal husbandry cooperative.

In 2015, Dasheng Village established a cooperative by absorbing industry support funds and named it after Sobuchaye Mountain. The reporter saw that in order to ensure the quality of yaks, the cooperative did not choose centralized breeding, but chose natural grassland grazing, and unified the planning of grazing quantity to achieve a balance between grass and livestock and green organic. With the confidence of development, the villagers are getting rich. Relying on the natural advantages, the village has established a stone processing factory and opened a department store in the county, which not only solved the employment problem of surplus labor, but also promoted the continuous increase of villagers' income.

As the year draws to a close, Sun Haonan, general manager of Qinghai Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Trading Co., Ltd. in Henan Mongolian Autonomous County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as Henan County), is a little busy. The company's yak beef dumplings have stable sales and are exported to other provinces. Offline "Yakyakyu" restaurants have opened in an orderly manner. From the official production on September 20, 2021 to today, the company has gradually opened up the market.

"The popularity of our product is due to the quality and good brand of yak meat." Sun Haonan said that the yaks sold by the company are not ordinary yaks, but Xueduo yaks, which have obtained the national geographical indication product.

The reporter learned that the Xueduo yaks needed by the company all come from the ecological animal husbandry cooperatives established by the collective economy of 39 villages in Henan County. At present, the animal husbandry products in Henan County have realized the development of the full ecological industrial chain from "pasture to table".

Gong Baodongzhi, director of the Management Committee of Henan County Organic Industry Science and Technology Park, said: "Henan County adheres to the development concept of 'reducing the number of cattle and sheep and increasing the income of herders' and the business model of 'enterprise + base + cooperative + herders', which brings a halo of development advantages to Henan County to strengthen and improve green organic agricultural and animal husbandry products, drive industrial development, promote animal husbandry efficiency, and increase herders' income."

Walking into Qinghai Shengyuan Carpet Group Co., Ltd. in Xining, the provincial capital, the red characters "Building a world-class Tibetan carpet production base" on the white factory wall are particularly eye-catching against the blue sky and green grass. Tibetan carpets with various patterns and designs are displayed in the factory, covering the floor and hanging on the wall.

Today, relying on Qinghai's advantages in agricultural and pastoral resources, brands, and industries, Tibetan carpets have not only become an important channel for employment for the masses, an important industry for rural revitalization, and an important link for national unity, but also a "golden business card" for Qinghai's characteristic industries to go global.

The new life of villagers in Banyan Village, Wushi Town, Huzhu Tu Autonomous County, Haidong City (Photo by CCTV reporter Fan Yongtao)

The above are just a microcosm of Qinghai Province's agriculture and animal husbandry, which is guided by ecological priority and green development, continues to deepen reforms and innovations, promotes industrial upgrading, and forms a new pattern of high-quality development of agriculture and animal husbandry.

From the joint construction of a green and organic agricultural and livestock products demonstration province by the ministry and the province to "building a green and organic agricultural and livestock products export base", Qinghai's agricultural and animal husbandry development ideas have become increasingly clear and the development blueprint has become increasingly clear.

——Focus on developing characteristic and advantageous industries such as yak, barley, Tibetan sheep, rapeseed, cold-water fish, and wolfberry, and continue to amplify the “Qingzihao” brand effect.

——Focus on building a "four zones and one belt" layout consisting of the efficient breeding industry development zone in eastern Qinghai, the circular agriculture and animal husbandry development zone around Qinghai Lake, the ecological organic animal husbandry development zone in southern Qinghai, the Qaidam Oasis Agriculture Development Zone, and the cold-water fish green breeding development zone along the Yellow River.

Data shows that in 2021, the certified area of ​​green organic grassland in Qinghai exceeded 80 million mu; the use of chemical fertilizers decreased by 40%, the use of pesticides decreased by 30%, and the green prevention and control coverage rate reached 45%; the comprehensive utilization rate of straw and the recovery rate of farmland film residues reached 90%; the organic traceability of yaks and Tibetan sheep covered 39 counties and cities; the third round of grassland ecological subsidy mechanism was launched; the ban on fishing and the closure of lakes for fish breeding in "one river, one lake" were vigorously promoted.

Qinghai, with its unyielding perseverance, is taking one step at a time to "build a base for exporting green and organic agricultural and livestock products."

Chinese salt bags: salt, beauty and value

Golmud City, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, is home to China's largest salt lake, the Chaerhan Salt Lake. It is known as China's "salt bag". Today, Chaerhan is not only a treasure land for salt and potash fertilizer factories, but has also become a "net celebrity check-in spot".

Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd. is located in the Qarhan Salt Lake. It is currently the largest potash fertilizer industrial production base in China and one of the four major resource-based enterprises in Qinghai. On August 15, 2021, after three years of reform and getting rid of difficulties, the company resumed listing, which provided a major strategic opportunity for Qinghai to accelerate innovation and development, fully integrate into the national strategy, realize the comprehensive development and recycling of salt lake resources, and achieve high-quality development of enterprises.

Chaerhan Salt Lake (Photo by CCTV reporter Fan Yongtao)

Qinghai is blessed with unique salt lake resources and is the region with the richest distribution of salt lakes in my country. It has the advantages of complete varieties, large reserves and great development potential. The cumulative reserves of proven salt lake resources are about 400 billion tons, and the reserves of potassium salt, magnesium salt, lithium salt and lapis lazuli rank first in my country.

In recent years, Qinghai Salt Lake resources have gradually evolved from a single potassium resource development model to a multi-variety, large-scale coordinated development of potassium, magnesium, lithium, boron and other resources. Three major industrial bases of "magnesium, lithium, and potassium" and five major industrial clusters of "potassium, sodium, magnesium, lithium, and chlorine" have been built successively. The potassium fertilizer production system integration technology and high magnesium-lithium ratio brine lithium extraction process technology have reached the international leading level.

Recently, the People's Government of Qinghai Province and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Action Plan for Qinghai to Build a World-Class Salt Lake Industrial Base (2021-2035)", which aims to promote the transformation and upgrading of Qinghai's salt lake industry, optimize the industrial layout, and improve the comprehensive utilization of salt lake resources. By 2035, the output value of the salt lake industry will reach 120 billion yuan, the world-class salt lake industrial base will be basically completed, and a salt lake industry cluster with international influence will be formed.

After talking about "salt", let's talk about Qinghai's "beauty".

Here, the mountains are towering and the green energy is shining; here, three rivers converge and salt lakes are widespread. "Chasing the wind", "chasing the sun" and "building water" are the highlights of Qinghai.

In Xining, the provincial capital, after 32 years of unremitting efforts to afforest barren hills, the forest coverage rate of the North and South Mountains has increased from 7.2% to 79%. The once barren and sandy North and South Mountains have become lush and green with birdsong and flowers. Xining has had 330 days of good air quality, and its air quality has been among the best in the capital cities of Northwest China for six consecutive years. A good ecology has become the key and foundation for Xining to upgrade its tourism industry.

Xining City's main urban area (Photo by CCTV reporter Zhang Haidong)

Looking across the province, Qinghai has successively formulated the "Ecotourism Product Standards", "Ecotourism Scenic Area Development and Operation Management Standards", "Ecotourism Interpretation Service Quality Standards", "Ecotourists' Code of Conduct", etc., quantified construction indicators, clarified the evaluation system, established tourist satisfaction surveys and third-party evaluation mechanisms, and constructed a four-level ecotourism destination: tourist city - tourist county (city) - characteristic tourist township - key ecotourism scenic spot (tourist village).

At present, Qinghai is promoting the formation of a new ecological tourism development layout of "one ring, six zones, two corridors and multiple points" with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Tourism Loop as the "one ring", six ecological tourism cooperation zones of Qinghai Lake, Sanjiangyuan, Qilian Scenery, Kunlun Source, Hehuang Culture, and Qinghai-Gansu-Sichuan Yellow River Customs as the "six zones", and the Qinghai-Tibet World Roof and Tang-Tibet Ancient Road Ecological Tourism Corridor as the "two corridors", to enhance and create a number of high-quality tourist attractions (zones).

During the National Day holiday in 2021, Qinghai Province received a total of 2.838 million domestic and foreign tourists, recovering to 93% of the same period before the epidemic on a comparable basis, and realized a total tourism revenue of 2.67 billion yuan, recovering to 83.7% of the same period before the epidemic, 23 percentage points higher than the national average recovery level. During the New Year's Day holiday in 2022, the tourism market in Qinghai Province received 400,000 tourists and realized a total tourism revenue of 270 million yuan.

"Building an international ecotourism destination" has pointed out the direction for the development of Qinghai's tourism and provided guidance, becoming a beautiful landscape at the beginning of Qinghai's "14th Five-Year Plan". It can not only achieve the goal of protecting the ecological environment, but also show the beauty of the ecological highlands; it can not only promote exchanges and integration among ethnic groups, but also promote exchanges in modern civilizations; it can not only drive infrastructure construction, but also improve people's livelihood and well-being.

It feels like being in "heaven"

The water of the Three Rivers goes to the world as a "national park"

The water of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Lancang River covers 66% of my country's territory, supplying more than 60 billion cubic meters of water to the middle and lower reaches every year, supporting more than 600 million people. It is difficult to find such a place in the world, gathering so many famous mountains and rivers; it is also difficult to find three similar rivers in the world, they are so close and connected.

The braided water system at the source of the Yellow River (Photo by CCTV reporter Fan Yongtao)

On October 14, 2021, the State Council approved the establishment of Sanjiangyuan National Park. After its establishment, the planning scope is mainly based on the typical representative areas of the source of the three major rivers, integrating the original Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve and Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, forming a "one park and three zones" pattern including the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Lancang River. In addition, Sanjiangyuan National Park has also established a herder participation mechanism, and many herders have changed from grassland users to grassland protectors. 17,200 herders have taken up their posts with certificates and become ecological caretakers and inspectors.

The National Development and Reform Commission's interim comprehensive evaluation report on the ecological performance of Sanjiangyuan National Park shows that the main protected objects in the Sanjiangyuan area have been better protected and restored, the ecological environment quality has been improved, the ecological function has been consolidated, the water conservation capacity has increased by more than 6% annually, and the grassland coverage rate and grass production have increased by more than 11% and 30% respectively compared with ten years ago. The wild animal population has increased significantly, and the Tibetan antelope has recovered from less than 20,000 in the 1980s to more than 70,000. The overall macro structure of the ecosystem has improved, the trend of grassland degradation has continued to reverse, the ecosystem's water conservation and water supply capacity in the basin have remained basically stable, and the air quality and surface water quality have been stable and improved.

Sanjiangyuan is developing healthily under the protection of many "protective umbrellas", and the keynote of harmony between man and nature will continue to be passed on. Its geological features, water resources, ecosystem, biodiversity and folk culture have shaped a unique national park.

Arriving at the Qilian Mountain National Park in the north of Qinghai Province, grasslands, snow-capped mountains, forests, canyons and glaciers are the unique ecological landscapes here. Traveling in the Qilian Mountains, there are beautiful pictures everywhere, and it is a consensus among people that it feels like being in a "heavenly realm".

At the end of 2021, when sorting out the infrared camera data, the staff found a picture of five lynxes in the same frame captured by the infrared camera. This is another record of multiple rare and endangered species in the same frame in the Qinghai section of Qilian Mountain National Park, following the successive capture of five snow leopards, five desert cats, and six manuls in the same frame, reflecting that the good ecological environment of Qilian Mountain National Park provides an excellent habitat for the survival and reproduction of wild animals.

Tibetan antelopes in Hoh Xil (Photo by Zhang Haidong, a reporter from CCTV)

At present, with the official establishment of Sanjiangyuan National Park, the pilot of Qilian Mountain National Park system has been completed as scheduled, and the planning of Qinghai Lake and Kunlun Mountain National Parks has been carried out in an orderly manner. Qinghai is accelerating the construction of a demonstration province of natural protection area system with national parks as the main body, striving to be at the forefront and create high-end, showing the unique charm of "National Park Province, Beautiful Qinghai" to the world.

Qinghai's greatest value, greatest responsibility and greatest potential lie in ecology. Recently, Qinghai Province issued the Qinghai Province Ecological Economic Development Plan (2021-2025), which clearly states that ecological environmental protection should be the basic premise and rigid constraint for ecological economic development, accelerate the exploration of new models of nature protection and resource utilization, and cultivate and build a modern ecological economic system with Qinghai characteristics.

The waters of the three rivers stretch forward, taking the lead in creating a new national and even international highland of ecological civilization, and working together to build a beautiful home of harmonious coexistence. This is Qinghai.

Source: CNR

Chief Planner: Zhang Jun and Yu Feng

Executive Producer: Wu Gang, Xia Lingyun

Co-ordinator: Tao Yude

Reporter: Zhang Haidong, Fan Yongtao, Teng Meng, Wang Xiaoqing

Editor: Zhang Weizhi Yijing

Video: Zhang Haidong and Fan Yongtao

Editor of this issue: Cai Mengyu